Author: Emil Lazarian

Published in the daily paper -VolksKrant on 26 -2-2007 –

47.ece
Armeense_kwestie_leidde_tot_censuur_door_Tu rkije_in_catalogus_van_Istanbul

Armeense kwestie leidde tot censuur door Turkije in catalogus van `Istanbul’
Van onze verslaggever Harmen Bockma

AMSTERDAM – De Turkse onvrede over de behandeling van kandidaat-Kamerleden
door PvdA en CDA was de aanleiding voor het conflict met de Nieuwe Kerk
over de catalogus van de tentoonstelling Istanbul. Dat zegt directeur
Ernst Veen van De Nieuwe Kerk.

De Turken eisten vorig jaar dat teksten, onder andere over de Armeense
genocide, aangepast zouden worden. De Nieuwe Kerk besloot daarop vier
artikelen over de geschiedenis van het Ottomaanse rijk in hun geheel weg
te laten.

Op die beslissing, die vorige week werd onthuld door het tijdschrift
ZemZem, is veel kritiek gekomen. De Nieuwe Kerk zou zijn bezweken voor
Turkse censuur, menen onder anderen collega’s van Veen.

`Tot oktober hadden we geen enkel probleem’, zegt Veen over de kwestie.
`Toen begonnen de strubbelingen bij PvdA en CDA.’ Veen doelt op het
verwijderen van Erdin Saçan van de conceptlijst van de PvdA, en Ayhan
Tonca en Osman Elmaci van de conceptlijst van het CDA. De
kandidaat-Kamerleden bleken onder andere op internetforums de Armeense
genocide te ontkennen. De kwestie leidde tot beroering in de Turkse
gemeenschap in Nederland. Pas nu blijkt dat ook de Turkse overheid
gevolgen heeft verbonden aan de zaak.

De Turken eisten verwijdering van een passage over de Armeense genocide,
maar ook het feit dat het Grieken waren die Istanbul (toen Byzantium)
stichtten, moest weg. Bemiddeling van de Nederlandse ambassadeur in
Turkije mocht niet baten, zegt Veen. Het was volgens hem de catalogus óf
de tentoonstelling. `We waren er op dat moment al twee jaar mee bezig.’

De Turkse ambassade wil geen commentaar geven.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE
March 2, 2007
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

SENATE PANEL TO CONSIDER LEGISLATION
CONDEMNING MURDER OF HRANT DINK

— S.Res.65 Affirms that Slain Armenian Journalist was
Prosecuted for Speaking about the Armenian Genocide

WASHINGTON, DC – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to
consider legislation, authored by the panel’s chairman Joe Biden
(D-DE), condemning the murder of Hrant Dink, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).

The resolution, S.Res.65, specifically mentions that Hrant Dink
"was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for
speaking about the Armenian Genocide," and urges the Turkish
government to repeal this anti-free speech law. It will be "marked
up" by the Committee on Tuesday, March 6th at 2:15 pm. The panel’s
website will note on March 6th if its proceeding that day will be
webcast live over the internet.
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ANCA activists in the 21 states with Senators on the Committee are
encouraging support for S.Res.65 through phone calls, faxes, and
meetings. They are also reminding the Senate offices that Hrant
Dink’s brutal murder is a wake up call for the U.S. Senate to pass
legislation formally recognizing and commemorating the Armenian
Genocide. Those interested in taking action on this issue may
visit: 76&type=CU

Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual Armenian/Turkish "Agos"
newspaper, was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul on
January 19th – sparking worldwide protests and renewed scrutiny of
Turkey’s repression of free speech and international campaign of
Armenian Genocide denial.

Two similar measures have been introduced in the U.S. House by
Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY), one that mentions the Armenian
Genocide and one that does not. The ANCA supports the former, but
not the latter.

The text of the legislation is provided below, as is a full listing
of Senate Foreign Relations Committee members.

#####

SRES 65
110th CONGRESS
1st Session

S. RES. 65

Condemning the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist and human
rights advocate Hrant Dink and urging the people of Turkey to honor
his legacy of tolerance.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 1, 2007

Mr. BIDEN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION
Condemning the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist and human
rights advocate Hrant Dink and urging the people of Turkey to honor
his legacy of tolerance.

Whereas Hrant Dink was a respected, eloquent advocate for press
freedom, human rights, and reconciliation;

Whereas, in 1996, Mr. Dink founded the weekly bilingual newspaper
Agos and, as the paper’s editor in chief, used the paper to provide
a voice for Turkey’s Armenian community;

Whereas Mr. Dink was a strong proponent of rapprochement between
Turks and Armenians and worked diligently to improve relations
between those communities;

Whereas Mr. Dink’s commitment to democratic values, nonviolence,
and freedom in the media earned him widespread recognition and
numerous international awards;

Whereas Mr. Dink was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish
Penal Code for speaking about the Armenian Genocide;

Whereas, notwithstanding hundreds of threats to Mr. Dink’s life and
safety, he remained a steadfast proponent of pluralism and
tolerance;

Whereas Mr. Dink was assassinated outside the offices of Agos in
Istanbul, Turkey, on January 19, 2007;

Whereas tens of thousands of people in Turkey of many ethnicities
protested Mr. Dink’s killing and took to the streets throughout the
country to honor his memory;

Whereas the Government of Turkey has pledged to undertake a full
investigation into the murder of Mr. Dink;

Whereas the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has
stated that when Mr. Dink was shot, `a bullet was fired at freedom
of thought and democratic life in Turkey’;

Whereas the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, stated
that Mr. Dink `lived his life in the belief that there can be
understanding, dialogue and peace amongst peoples’; and

Whereas Mr. Dink’s tragic death affirmed the importance of
promoting the values that he championed in life: Now, therefore, be
it

Resolved, That the Senate–

(1) condemns the murder of Hrant Dink as a shameful act of
cowardice perpetrated with contempt for law, justice, and decency;

(2) supports the pledge of the Government of Turkey to conduct an
exhaustive investigation into the assassination of Mr. Dink and to
prosecute those responsible;

(3) urges the Government of Turkey to repeal Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code and work diligently to foster a more open
intellectual environment in the country that is conducive to the
free exchange of ideas;

(4) recognizes the decision of the Government of Turkey to invite
senior Armenian religious and political figures to participate in
memorial services for Mr. Dink;

(5) calls on the Government of Turkey to act in the interest of
regional security and prosperity and reestablish full diplomatic,
political, and economic relations with the Government of Armenia;
and

(6) urges the people of Turkey to honor Mr. Dink’s legacy of
tolerance.

Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

Alaska
Lisa Murkowski (R)
(202) 224-6665

California
Barbara Boxer (D)
(202) 224-3553

Connecticut
Christopher Dodd (D)
(202) 224-2823

Delaware
Joe Biden, Chairman (D)
(202) 224-5042

Florida
Bill Nelson (D)
(202) 224-5274

Georgia
Johnny Isakson (R)
(202) 224-3643

Illinois
Barack Obama (D)
(202) 224-2854

Indiana
Dick Lugar (R), Ranking Member
(202) 224-4814

Louisiana
David Vitter (R)
(202) 224-4623

Maryland
Ben Cardin (D)
(202) 224-4524

Massachusetts
John Kerry (D)
(202) 224-2742

Minnesota
Norm Coleman (R)
(202) 224-5641

Nebraska
Chuck Hagel (R)
(202) 224-4224

New Hampshire
John Sununu (R)
(202) 224-2841

New Jersey
Bob Menendez (D)
(202) 224-4744

Ohio
George Voinovich (R)
(202) 224-3353

Pennsylvania
Bob Casey, Jr. (D)
(202) 224-6324

South Carolina
Jim DeMint (R)
(202) 224-6121

Tennessee
Bob Corker (R)
(202) 224-3344

Virginia
Jim Webb (D)
(202) 224-4024

Wisconsin
Russ Feingold (D)
(202) 224-5323

TURKISH WRITERS WATCH THEIR BACKS
By Laura King, Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times, CA
March 1 2007

After an editor’s killing, a nationalist resurgence has chilled
literary life.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – At a recent dinner party on the shores of the
Bosporus, the bookish chatter among the Turkish writers and academics
present took a sudden grim turn: Are you under police protection yet?

"We were all comparing notes about which of us had only one bodyguard
and which of us had two, and we joked a little about being in
competition with each other over this," said journalist and novelist
Perihan Magden, who was among those placed under police protection
after threats by ultranationalists. "It was comical, but also very
tragic."

In the wake of the January assassination in Istanbul of prominent
ethnic Armenian editor Hrant Dink, Turkey’s intellectual community
is feeling under siege to a degree not experienced in decades.

A mass outpouring of dismay and revulsion when Dink was gunned down,
illustrated by a funeral that drew tens of thousands of mourners,
has given way to a powerful right-wing backlash. Shadowy nationalist
groups have issued chilling threats against authors and thinkers who,
like Dink, speak out against Turkey’s official denial that the mass
killings of Armenians beginning in 1915 constituted genocide, or on
the power of the Turkish military, or the status of minority Kurds.

As a result, novelists are canceling book tours, once-outspoken
professors are maintaining a low profile, and crusading columnists
like Magden wonder whether their words will wind up costing them
their lives.

The man who temporarily stepped in for Dink has been afraid to put
his name on the masthead of Agos, the bilingual Armenian Turkish
newspaper his slain colleague edited.

"It’s a real climate of fear," said Eugene Schoulgin, a board member
of the writers group PEN, which together with other international
organizations has been lobbying for repeal of Article 301, a provision
in the Turkish penal code that makes it a criminal offense to
"denigrate Turkishness."

Many intellectuals had hoped that the brazen daylight shooting of Dink,
who received a suspended sentence of six months in jail in 2005 over
his views on the slayings of Armenians, would prove a catalyst for
abolishing Article 301. Turkey’s curbs on freedom of expression are
seen as a significant obstacle as the government seeks to advance
the country’s bid for membership in the European Union.

But amid the increasingly polarized atmosphere, many observers have
grown more pessimistic than ever about prospects for reform. And in
this election year, Turkish political parties, even mainstream ones,
are reluctant to alienate voters with nationalist leanings, who make
up a substantial chunk of the electorate.

Analysts point to Turkey’s historical tendency to dig in its heels in
the face of reform pressures from the outside world. They argue that
the outcry over Article 301 is not only hardening domestic resistance
but may even be adding to an already profound ambivalence over forging
closer bonds with the West.

"Sometimes international groups create a reaction in Turkey,
an overreaction, because the language they use is not always
constructive," said Onur Oymen, an opposition politician and former
Turkish ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"Critics should be careful not to produce the opposite reaction to
that sought."

Police officials have not disclosed how many dissident public figures
have been placed under protection since Dink’s killing, but estimates
range into the dozens, including acclaimed fiction writer Elif Shafak,
who was taken to court last year under Article 301. Her case, like
most of the scores of similar prosecutions, ended with the charges
being dropped.

Shafak, who was a close friend of Dink, has sharply curtailed
appearances to promote her new novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul,"
a family saga whose complex plot line hinges on the Armenian killings.

Now under police protection, she wrote in an e-mail that she remained
"in mourning" and declined to be interviewed.

Shafak’s husband, Eyup Can, told the Hurriyet newspaper about the
couple being shadowed by a police guard whenever they ventured out.

"He is inside your life," he said.

Shafak was so distraught after Dink’s slaying, he said, that she was
unable to breastfeed their baby.

"This is the situation of writers in this country today," he said.

"It is really bad."

Orhan Pamuk, the winner of last year’s Nobel Prize in literature
and another writer to run afoul of Article 301, stood outside Dink’s
office hours after the Jan. 19 assassination and publicly declared
that the editor "was killed because of his ideas, ideas that aren’t
acceptable to the state."

Pamuk, who has long been vilified on nationalist websites, was
subsequently singled out for a seeming threat by Yasin Hayal, who
police say has confessed to helping orchestrate the Dink killing,
including recruiting the 17-year-old alleged gunman, Ogun Samast.

"Orhan Pamuk, better be wise!" Hayal called out as he was being taken
into an Istanbul court in January. "Be wise."

Pamuk has since canceled a series of readings and other scheduled
appearances in Germany and is now staying in the United States.

His Turkish publisher declined to say whether Pamuk had left the
country because of safety concerns or was honoring prior academic
commitments. Fellow writers said that the Nobel laureate was placed
under tight security after a flurry of threats and that when he
departed, police guards escorted him to the airport.

Many here say the intimidation of intellectuals brings back vivid
memories of the 1970s and ’80s, when political violence frightened
many journalists and academics into silence.

Police protection is of scant comfort to those who believe the
government is passively or actively complicit in the threats against
them.

After Dink’s killing, allegations surfaced that police had ignored
explicit threats against him. And after the arrest of the suspected
gunman, TV footage leaked out that showed the man striking triumphal
poses with arresting officers, who could be seen helping him carefully
position a Turkish flag for the cameras. Investigations of both
incidents are continuing.

Another former Article 301 defendant, Ankara University political
science professor Baskin Oran, wrote about a months-long ordeal
after he sought police protection because of a series of threats that
arrived by text message, fax and e-mail. The messages called him an
"enemy of Turks" and a "dog," with one vowing, "Turkish nationalists
will cut you up one day."

When the identities of some of those menacing him were traced
electronically, he said, a prosecutor summoned him and put him face to
face with the authors of the threats, urging that he listen to their
grievances. Oran said he was frightened and furious at the suggestion,
which he refused.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S ISOLATION DEEPENS, SAYS "ECONOMIST" MAGAZINE

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.03.2007 16:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s isolation will deepen more and more because
Armenia does not participate in the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars
railway project, says the report of "Economist" analytical center
February edition. "Armenia just another time occurs out of profitable
regional projects. With the beginning of railway’s functioning
Azerbaijan can transport more than 500 million tons of freight to
Turkey annually.

Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey already now closely cooperate in
transportation of Caspian energy resources to Turkey.

Armenia tried to hinder the railway project. There is a strong
Armenian community in the U.S.A., which could achieve a decision by
the Congress, which bans American banks and government to finance the
Baku-Kars railway construction. The magazine says that despite the
fact that Armenian side offered to reconstruct the existing Kars-Gyumri
railway and open Armenian-Turkish border with favorable customs regime,
construction of Baku-Kars railway continues.

Experts of "Economist" think that the closed borders and absence of
energy resources makes Armenia dependent on Russia very much. And the
later does not pay attention to interests of Armenia, which arouses
anger among pro-Western political figures.

"Nevertheless, the greater part of Armenian population continues
to accept Russians as security guarantee in the context of threats
proceeding from Azerbaijan and Turkey. But it is not quite clear, if
Russian will rally interfere, if say, Azerbaijan will launch military
actions in Nagorno Karabakh," the magazine writes, RFE/RL reports.

TURKEY TO CONTINUE EFFORTS FOR HINDERING ADOPTION OF GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.03.2007 18:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A Turkish parliamentary delegation currently in
Washington met with Matthew Bryza, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. The delegation is in
the United States to discourage passage of the 1915 Armenian Genocide
resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives. Bryza told the Turkish
deputies that the Bush administration was opposed to the resolution.

The delegation of deputies includes MPs both from the ruling Justice
and Development Party and the main opposition Republican People’s
Party, Star reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘NONSENSE’

A1+
[07:25 pm] 01 March, 2007

‘The USA recognition of Armenian Genocide will hinder the
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process,’ US Senate members have
stated about Armenian Genocide resolution lately.

NA vice-chairman Vahan Hovhannisyan, member to ARF bureau, interpreted
the following as "Nonsense" and added, "the contrary, the more and
powerful countries recognize Armenian Genocide, the more Turkey will
be obliged to consider not only its benefits, but also the necessity
of peace establishment in the whole region."

Vahan Hovhannisyan comments on the stand-point according to which
we not only claim for genocide recognition with requital reasons
afterwards, but also RA safety security is of great significance.

Vahan Hovhannisyan highlights, "The recognition of 1915 Armenian
Genocide by Turkey is the most essential RA safety security guarantee."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UNESCO FACT-FINDING MISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE STATE OF MONUMENTS

ArmRadio.am
01.03.2007 14:22

UNESCO will send a fact-finding mission to investigate the state
of religious, cultural and historical monuments in the Autonomous
Republic of Nakhijevan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh,
declared the Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz
Garaev, Azeri APA agency reports. According to him, the visit will
fall in the middle of May.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA RANKS 123RD IN THE RATING OF WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENTS

ArmRadio.am
02.03.2007 13:23

Armenia occupies the 123rd position in the rating of women
representation in Parliaments, says the report of the Secretary General
of the UN Interparliamentary Union, which includes the statistics of
women representation in Parliaments.

According to the report, with respect to the representation of women
in Parliaments in post-Soviet countries, the situation is better
in Belarus, where women comprise 29.1% of the MPs. Thus, Belarus
is the 21st in the above-mentioned rating. Russia is 99th, Ukraine
ranks 105th. It is mentioned in the report that in many post-Soviet
countries the indices of women’s representation in Parliaments were
incomparably less than the average of 17%. Thus, women comprise about
11.3% in the legislative body of Azerbaijan, 10.4% in Kazakhstan, 9.4%
in Russia and Georgia, 8.7% in Ukraine and 5.3% in Armenia. There is
no woman in the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

15TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIA’S MEMBERSHIP TO THE UN

ArmRadio.am
02.03.2007 13:41

15 years passed after the day when eight former USSR member states –
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – joined the UN. On March 2, 1992 state
flags of these countries were raised in front of the organization’s
headquarters.

Because of the civil war Georgia became a UN member a few months
later – in July 1992.

The three ex-Soviet Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – had
joined the organization in September 1991. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
were among the founders of the United Nations Organization in 1945.

Today the UN has 192 member states.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEGHARDAVANK CHOIR TO LEAVE WITH CONCERTS FOR GERMANY

Noyan Tapan
Mar 02 2007

GEGHARD, MARCH 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The Geghardavank choir headed by
abbot monk Ghevond Ghevondian will leave for Germany where it will
have concerts. The artistic head of the group is Artistry Candidate,
Assistant Professor Mher Navoyan, and the choir-master is Anahit
Papayan. This concert tour was organized under the UNESCO patronage,
within the framework of cooperation of Surb (Saint) Geghardavank
and medieval Lorsch Monastery in Germany. Cooperation of the
two monasteries started in 2001, when the representation of the
Lorsch Scientific-Research Institute visited Armenia, particularly,
S.Geghardavank. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the Information Services
of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the next tour of the choir to
Germany is the second one. Concerts will take place in the cities of
Munich, Augsburg, Stuttgart, Lorsch, Hanau, Darmstadt and Frankfurt
am Main. Armenian spiritual and people’s songs are involved in the
concert program. Under the patronage of Archbishop Garegin Bekchian,
the primate of the Armenian diocese of Germany, the choir will have
concerts for the Armenian community of the cities of Cologne and
Hanau on March 9 and 10.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress